Sharing & Wearing Flowers for Women's Pelvic Health

11 Tips To Cope with Bed Rest

In follow-up to yesterday’s post, where Jen Franceschelli shared about her challenging pregnancies and childbirth, experience, we also have the following from Jen:

My advice to anyone on bed rest…

Get dressed every day, you’ll feel more like your old self and less like a patient

Even though they are hot and difficult to put on, wear those stupid TEDS stockings; they do work to minimize swelling and are important in preventing blood clots

Talk to your doctor about what exercises if any you can do while on bed rest; request a Physical Therapy consult so you can learn what to do and how to move using good body mechanics

Don’t be embarrassed about personal things, please speak up if you are constipated!

Stay in touch with friends; for me, texting my friends and family was a life saver, it kept me in touch and engaged with others

Let others help you; my friends and family really stepped up preparing meals for my family and chauffeuring my kids around to all their activities

Don’t stress about things you can’t control- I know easier said than doneL

Don’t worry about silly things like if your house is clean- IT DOESN’T MATTER TO ANYONE BUT YOU!

Hang in there; it won’t be forever and believe me there will come a day when you’ll wish someone would put you back on bed rest for just one more day!

If you have a preemie and have to leave the hospital before them, don’t hold it in, go ahead and cry. Like I said before, it’s just not natural to be away from your newborn baby

Finally realize that if you have had a difficult pregnancy and have been on bed rest that it will take some time to recover and feel like your old self again. If you feel excessive fatigue or pain or are struggling with “common” issues such as painful intercourse, leaking urine or separated abdominal muscles, ask for a Physical Therapy consult with a Women’s Health Specialist. Make sure you are healing the way you should be, common problems treated early on are much easier to treat; waiting to treat these problems can lead to more problems and make treatment more difficult.

For even more info, find our friend and colleague, Darline Turner-Lee, a mama with first hand bed rest experience now working WITH mamas during their own bed rest experiences. Using her own experience plus her knowledge as a physician’s assistant, Darline launched ‘Mamas on Bed Rest’ to serve as a resource, point of encouragement and a guide on safe ways to prevent some of the deconditioning so commonly associated with being on bed rest during pregnancy. You can join her community online and purchase her exercise DVD for more info.